Honor Among Thieves
by Lil Miss Snarker
Summary: Set a month after BDM. In the wake of Miranda the crew is trying to get back to normal. But a tramatic event, an unexpected new crew member, budding romance, and civil unrest throw things off Basically a series contiunation. Saylee, Minara, eventual Rayne
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Firefly, if I did there'd be a sequal to Serenity by now

Honor Among Theives

Chapter One: Media

**All Pinyin words and phrases will be translated at the bottom of the page!**

Simon's voice:

_After Earth-that-was was no longer able to hold our numbers, humans moved to a new star system with hundreds of planets and moons, all terraformed to be habitable to our species. The center planets formed the Alliance; one universal power that wanted all the planets under their control. Some tried to fight this, some of us agreed with it; whatever side was the right one, the Alliance won the war. But their need for control was maddening, leading to awful consequences. The creation of the Reavers: vicious canibilistic men who terrorize the outer and rim planets. The lack money and technology for the the outer worlds. Most personally: the kidnapping and torture of my sister, River. I rescued her and now we're both fugitives, smuggled ourselves onto a transport ship named Serenity, Firefly class, and got a whole new life._

It was early morning on Media, a small outer planet that wasn't in particularly bad shape but was by know means the core. The square by the docks was crowded with merchants and traders, not to mention ships looking for passengers. One of these ships was _Serenity_, landed near a clothing store in which Kaylee Frye, the ships mechanic, was currently shopping. The why was somewhat of a mystery, as Jayne cobb, who's official position on the ship was unknown, put it: "Anythin' purty she'd get dirty right quick anyway." Kaylee had taken offence to this and gone anyway.

A handsome tall man with light skin and dark hair stood outside the ship with his hands folded behind his back. He was wearing a purple dress shirt, a pair of long black pants, and leather shoes. The outfit looked as though it had once been very fine but had been long since worn out, the pants patched where they had ripped, the shoes scuffed, and the shirt missing the top three buttons as well as the buttons for the sleaves. Above him was a young girl in a bright red dress and a pair of black combat boots sitting on top of the ship. She had a pad of paper and a pencil in her hand and appeared to sketching the square, ever so often tossing her long brown hair out of her face only to have it blow back a second later.

"Mei Mei, Come down from there!" called Simon, looking up at his sister, "You're going to fall and hurt yourself."

"Am not!" River argued childishly as she stood up and began walking to the edge of the ship.

"_Yes_, you are!" The moment Simon said this, as if on cue, he heard a yell as River slipped off the edge of the ship. "Cao! River!?"

Simon ran to the edge of the ship desperatly calling for his sister. Not able to find her anywhere he was beginning to get hysterical when all of the sudden a combat boot swung in front of him. There, sitting on the edge of the ship was River sporting a huge, mocking grin. "Oh, Chi ni de!" exclaimed Simon as he realized what had happened, causing River to burst out laughing.

"Customers," she said, looking over at a man and a woman who were looking at the ship, "You go, fight with her later."

Simon obligingly left his sister and walked towards the couple. The woman, a softfaced Asian woman, spoke first, "I'm Nora Inichi," she introduced herself, "This is my friend Rex Hale," she continued, pointing to her companion; a hard faced caucasion man with bad five o'clock shadow. He reminded Simon of all of Jayne's bad qualities, but money was money.

"I'm Simon," he said. If either one of them thought it was strange he didn't give a last name, they didn't show it. "This is the _Serenity_," he said, gesturing to the ship, "If you folks are looking for a ride, She'll get you there fast enough."

"Who's that girl on top o' it?" asked Rex.

"That's my sister; she's the pilot."

* * *

_Take my love, take my land_  
_Take me where I cannot stand_  
_I don't care, I'm still free_  
_You can't take the sky from me_  
_Take me out to the black_  
_Tell them I ain't comin' back_  
_Burn the land and boil the sea_  
_You can't take the sky from me_  
_There's no place I can be_  
_Since I found Serenity_  
_But you can't take the sky from me..._

* * *

Kaylee walked into the ship wearing an aquamarine sun dress with a blood red dragon embroidered onto it. Simon smiled as he looked her over. "You like?" she asked with a big, childlike grin.

"Dangran," he replied before lightly kissing her, causing Nora to frown slightly.

As Mal, Jayne, and Zoe walked in, Mal looked over Rex and Nora. "Two?"

Simon's smile immediantly fell, "Only ones I could find."

"I thought the pointa lettin' you round up passengers was that you'd get a lot on account o' you bein' respectablelike," commented Jayne as he walked past.

Mal rolled his eyes at Jayne and walked up the the couple and shook their hands, giving them the run down: the workings of the ship, where they weren't alloud to go on the off chance they might get in the way of various crime, the usual. "Jayne? Help 'em with their bags. Doc?"

"Yes?" replied Simon.

"Where the guai is my co-pilot?"

Simon climbed cautiously onto the roof of the ship, trying only somewhat sucessfully to keep his balance as he walked towards River. Sitting down next to her he looked over her shoulder at the drawing of the square, "That's very good."

"Shi, Dangran," she replied without looking up, causing Simon to smirk indignantly.

"Gettin' a little cocky there, aren't we Mei Mei?"

"_Getting_."

He laughed as pushed a strand of hair out of her face, "We need to go."

"Time to fly away?"

"Shi, Dangran," he answered with a grin before pushing himself up and offering a hand, pulling her up to her feet. As they both climbed off the ship a piece of paper fell off River's pad.

_Pain. Hurt. Can't breath. Blood. Press. Can't breath. Pain. Press. Push. Pain. Can't breath. Pain. Hurt. Blood. Can't breath. Pain. Can't breath. Can't breath. Can't breath. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain._

Kaylee and Jayne sat on the iron scafolding near the bridge as the ship was prepared for take off. Kaylee was eating strawberries Simon had gotten her while they were in town, all smiles as usual. Jayne was wearing his orange hat with an intent, somewhat troubled look on his face. "Whatchya thinkin' about?" asked Kaylee brightly as she swung her feet back and forth.

"...I don't like the look of them people the Doctor brought on the ship," he answered contemplativly.

"They seemed perfectly nice."

"Sure, defend your boyfriend."

"That's not fair!" argued Kaylee as she swallowed the last of her favorite fruit and got to her feet.

"Life ain't fair, Honey."

"Obviously," said Mal as he walked onto the catwalk and right inbetween the brewing fight, "Otherwise someone would've burned or shreaded that thing on your head by now." Jayne was rendered silent by the comment causing Mal to smile. "Need you both to come onto the bridge; got us a job."

As they made their way into the cockpit the came upon Zoe hammering out some particulars on the the computer screen, River in the pilots seat with her combat boots up on the dash, and Simon sitting in the seat next to her with an apathetic look on his face.

"So where's the job?"asked Jayne, breaking the somewhat awkward silence that always seemed to form in the cockpit after Wash's death.

"Eurydice," answered Zoe, bringing up the coordinates of the planet up on the screen.

"Simple job," began Mal, realizing after he said that that it was never that easy, "We go in, we lift some valuable little foodstuffs outa the local market, we fly out and sell them to the first moon who wants them bad enough to pay a good price. We can get through this nice and quick and still get our little friends to Ceres on schedule provided there are no fun little mishaps, that means you, Nianqing de," he said, looking at River.

Jayne let out a slight chuckle which caused Mal to whip his head around, "You too, Houzi de pigu," he snapped, causing Jaynes smile to immediantly melt away.

"Get it? Got it? Good. Take us out of the world, Nianqing de, Ma shang!"

_Serenity_ soared up into the air as River grabbed onto the controls, weaving through the sky with ease worthy of wash as the crew weant out to do a simple job, unaware of all that lay before them.

Inara sat languidly in her shuttle as the ship took off, she'd only been back on _Serenity_ for a month and already it fealt like home again. Happy to be alone for now and to fall into a comfortable sleep she lay back and closed her eyes. "Inara?" called Mal as he came into the room.

She sighed somewhat regretfully, "Dangran...What is it Mal?"

He smiled sheepishly as he came in, if their relationship had been awkward before it was much more so now that she was back, "I just wanted you to know we're stoping on Eurydice for a little while to pull a job."

"Thank you for the update, do you remember the rule I put into place about bursting into my shuttle?" she asked wearily.

"That I should do it all the time because it impresses and excites you?" he asked hopefully. As Inara opened her mouth to answer both Kaylee and River came into the shuttle as well.

"Aiyah!" Inara exclaimed as she resolved that she would not be sleeping any time soon.

Kaylee completely taken aback, River, on the other hand, looked as if nothing had ever happened. She sat down on Inara's bed and began braiding her hair. "I was, um, wonderin' if you could watch River," began Kaylee, "The ship's on autopilot and Simon didn't want to leave her alone while we...were busy."

Inara let a smile creep onto her face, "I'd be happy too." Kaylee didn't even thank the companion before running out of the room, presumably to Simon. Mal, who had now lost his hopes of a private moment with Inara rolled is eyes and left the shuttle. Inara looked after him a moment trying her best to appear apathetic before turing to River. "So, what would you like to do, Sweetie?"

River looked up at Inara, grinning, "You should let him kiss you," she stated simply, causing Inara's eyes to widen in shock.

"River...Mal and I are...not that way."

River rolled her eyes and began to play with her, "Somethings coming...she won't be the same, she'd like to see it before the darkness comes."

In the passenger cabins Nora and Rex began to open a trunk filled with an arsonal of weapons. "Do you think they suspect anything?" Nora asked.

"Even if they do, it won't matter much.

* * *

**As promised, English translations!**

**-Mei Mei: Little Sister**

**-Cao: Fuck**

**-Chi ni de: Screw you**

**-Dangran: Of course**

**-Guai: Hell**

**-Shi, Dangran: Yes, Ofcourse**

**-Nianqing de: Young One**

**-Houzi de pigu: Monkey's ass**

**-Ma shang: Now/At once/Right Away**

**-Aiyah: Damn**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Joss is the boss

Honor Among Theives

Chapter Two: Eurydice

**All Pinyin words and phrases will be translated at the bottom of the page!**

_Simon's voice:_

_After Earth-that-was was no longer able to hold our numbers, humans moved to a new star system with hundreds of planets and moons, all terraformed to be habitable to our species. The center planets formed the Alliance; one universal power that wanted all the planets under their control. Some tried to fight this, some of us agreed with it; whatever side was the right one, the Alliance won the war. But their need for control was maddening, leading to awful consequences. The creation of the Reavers: vicious canibilistic men who terrorize the outer and rim planets. The lack money and technology for the the outer worlds. Most personally: the kidnapping and torture of my sister, River. I rescued her and now we're both fugitives, smuggled ourselves onto a transport ship named Serenity, Firefly class, and got a whole new life._

As Serenity sailed into the black, Inara and River sat in the shuttle in relative silence as Inara brushed the tangles out of the seventeen year old's hair. River hadn't spoken since her somewhat morbid comments about Mal and Inara and had once again taken to staring blankly at nothing asif something were taking place there. "Would you like me to get your drawing paper?" Inara asked.

"Not in the mood," she answered in a daze.

"River, sweetie, you can't just sit there staring. You'll...hurt your eyes."

It was at this point that River pulled away from the companion and stared up at her, her eyes wide with shock; "It's like the wooden horse! And the kind is unasuming and they come in the night! They kill the men, adn throw the babies over the wall! And they force the women to their beds!" wide eyed and terrified the girl continues to scream and, unsure of what else to do, Inara ran to the dialogue box.

"Simon! She's having an attack!" she yelled into the speaker before running back, "River, honey, you've got to calm down."

"It's a trick! A gift horse! Yesu! Ren ci de shang di, qing dai wo zou! Wo xiang mei er, mei xin, bian shi tou! Please God, turn me to a stone."

* * *

_Take my love, take my land  
Take me where I cannot stand_  
_I don't care, I'm still free_  
_You can't take the sky from me_  
_Take me out to the black_  
_Tell them I ain't comin' back_  
_Burn the land and boil the sea_  
_You can't take the sky from me_  
_There's no place I can be_  
_Since I found Serenity_  
_But you can't take the sky from me..._

"How is she?" asked Kaylee as Simon came out of the infirmary looking weary and depressed.

"Better, sleeping; I gave her a smoother...I just...I thought she was doing better, you know?"

"I know qing ai de lian ren," she cooed as she wrapped her arms around his waist, "And I think she was...is...but well...she's still River."

Simon sighed and kissed her on the cheek, "I know, but it's just so--"

"I know. So; any idea what set her off?"

"No clue; one moment she's completely quiet, the next she's ranting about the Trojan War." Kaylee looked at him inquisitively, "It was a war on earth-that was between the Greeks and the Trojans. The legend is that the Greeks pretended to surrender and gave the Trojans a giant wooden horse as a peace offering. It was hollow. The Greeks were hiding inside; they jumped out of the horse at night, killed all the men, raped the women, and threw the children over the the great wall surrounding Troy."

"That's awful."

"That's war," said Mal with a slight bitter tone to his voice as he walked into the room, "She knocked out?"

"Yeah, just have to wait 'till she wakes up, I guess."

"No idea what set her off then?" Mal asked as looked down at the pale little form.

"None," answered Kaylee before gently kissing Simon on the cheek, "I'm gonna go get a cup o' somethin', call me if you need me."

Mal and Simon stood there in silence for a couple of minutes, "Well; we said she'd been better since Miranda, no one said she was a hundred percent," Mal finally said.

Simon nodded, but from the look on his face it was obvious he'd been hoping for a hundred percent. "She just seemed--"

"You don't get over trauma. You learn to deal with it. Doc, her brain got cut into: that's gonna hinder a full recovery. I'm sorry: that's just the reality of the siduation."

Simon suddenly got very deffensive, "There's no reason River can't be perfectly normal with the right medication!" he exclaimed.

"Maybe so, I just don't see it happenin' soon," Mal said apologetically before walking out of the room.

* * *

A few hours later a small moan imited from River causing Simon turn around. The girl stirred slightly and then her eyes shot open. "Mei mei," cooed Simon, returning to his seat by her bed, "You're awake."

"Threw a fit, shouted, cired...You're upset."

"I'm..._concerned_."

"Same thing," she argued, breaking into a strained smile, "Simon: so serious," she said mockingly as she put a hand to his cheek. "You worry to much ge ge."

"You think I shouldn't?"

"Never said that," she replied, her smile slipping off her face and hand dropping to her side, "Just said that's what you do."

* * *

They landed on Eurydice at around three in the afternoon the next day. Mal, Zoe, and Jayne almost immediantly set out for the job. Inara had taken her shuttle our to a near moon for some business and Simon and Kaylee were on a date, with River in tow. As the two walked throught the streets holding hands, River skipping in front of them, they smiled. It was a much better day.

River danced through the streets smiling, all the cares from the previous day lost in the bright sun and cool breeze. Simon and Kaylee had stopped at a bench for a minute to rest, she looked at them happily before is suddently changed.

_Pain. Hurt. Can't breath. Blood. Press. Can't breath. Pain. Press. Push. Pain. Can't breath. Pain. Hurt. Blood. Can't breath. Pain. Can't breath. Can't breath. Can't breath. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain._

Not knowing what else to do, she ran back to _Serenity_ as fast as she could, the beat of her combat boots on the pavement in synch with the fast beating of her heart. _Serenity_ in sight she calmed slightly, running up to the door. But as she boarded the ship a terrifying darkness began to overtake her vision and she realized she had ran to exactly the wrong place. An arm then wrapped around her waist and a knife at her throat.

Rex grinned sinisterly, "Hello, qu ni de."

**Yesu-Jesus**

**Ren ci de shang di, quing dai wo zou- Merciful God, take me away**

**Wo xiang mei er, mei xin, bian shi tou- I will close my ears and my heart and I will be stone**

**Ge ge- Big brother**

**Mei mei- little sister**

**Qu ni de- dear/darling**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Joss and Mutant Enemy own everything...I'm running out of creative discalimers to be perfectly honest with you

Honor Among Theives  
Chapter Three: The Wooden Horse

_Jayne's voice:_

_The Earth got used up. 'Least that's how the story goes. Wouldn' really know fur sure; weren't around then. But any way it wen't down humanity made all new earths. Some tried to control, some tried to resist control. Me? I stuck to what I was good at which was shootin' people. Which is, in fact, how I got my current place of employment and housin'._

Jayne limped as he, Mal, and Zoe made their way back to the ship, the boxes of food dragging behind them. It was hot and serid on Eurydice and in the sand there were tracks from the boxes as well from Jayne's supposedly injured foot.

"How do you get injured crawling in an air duct?" asked Zoe mockingly.

"I told ya already; there was a piece o' metal slipped through my shoe."

"You need better shoes," Mal replied, rolling his eyes. The team made their way up to the ship and even before it was in distance each of them had tiny intuition that something was wrong.

"Sir?"

"What is it, Zoe?"

"There any particular reason the door to the ship is open?" she asked, voice filled with mild concern.

Mal paused for a moment, "I'm sure the Doc accidently left it--"

"That why he and Kaylee are runin' up to us now?" asked Zoe.

The dirt of the road clouded around Kaylee and Simon's feet as they ran up to their crew. "She's gone," Kaylee choked out, gasping for breath, Simon momentarily tripped which left Jayne and no one else laughing.

"What?" asked Jayne, confused, after he quieted his chuckle which, according to River, was somewhat reminescent to that of a hyena.

"River is gone."

* * *

_Take my love, take my land  
Take me where I cannot stand  
I don't care, I'm still free_  
_You can't take the sky from me_  
_Take me out to the black_  
_Tell them I ain't comin' back_  
_Burn the land and boil the sea_  
_You can't take the sky from me_  
_There's no place I can be_  
_Since I found Serenity_  
_But you can't take the sky from me..._

* * *

Mal looked from the distressed couple, to the open door, and back again and then smiled. "She went back to the ship," he explained with a chuckle.

Sure he was right, the captain walked up to his ship with ease. The crew was less sure ut none the less followed Mal to the ship. As he got to the door and began to enter the ship he called out to River: "Lil' albatross? River?"

"Not quite," answered Nora's voice behind him. Turning around, he found a gun pointed directly in his face.

"Cap'n, I don't think she's here--" said Kaylee as the crew came up into the ship. She, of course, stopped short when observing the scene before her.

"Ta me da," swore Jayne under his breath as Rex rounded him and the rest of the crew onto the bridge before closing the door.

"I'm gonna take a wil' guess and say y'all folk are comindeerin' my ship," said Mal in an annoyed drawl as the two "passengers" began to tie them up.

"That would be accurate," replied Nora with a fiendish grin playing across her face, "I would really like to thank you for the hospitility Captain Reynolds: it's really been alot of help."

"Ni ta ma de," Mal replied as they led the crew into the lounge, which had become (apparently) a make shift brig. In the corne of the room the small, pale figure of River could be seen looking less than well and with a fair amount of blood on her.

"Mei mei?" whispered Simon with the deadly look on his face which was typically reserved for people who had hurt River or Kaylee, "What the hell did you do to her?"

Rex rolled his eyes and smirked, "Shut her up. She wouldn't stop screamin'." Within seconds Simon lunged forward out of Nora's grasps and managed to kick Rex square in the face. He did a little damage but mostly he just shocked the hell out of the overly imposing man.

"Well who didn't see that comin'," commented Jayne from the back of the room. Rex, who obviously _didn't_ see it coming, got back and socked Simon right in the stomach as an act of revenge before walking away from the doctor, who had doubled over and fallen on the ground.

"If we're done with the idiotic heroics," said Nora sarcastically, "This can be easy or it can be difficult: the easy way is you folks be nice and quiet 'till we get planetside. That way ends with you walking off with your lives. The hard way ends with you dead: it's your choice."

"There should be a third option in which we live and keep the ship and Captain Daddy projects you into space," commented River, who had just regained consciousness, quietly.

"You want to go another round Little Bit?" asked Rex with a sneer, causing her to shirk away before tucking her head into her knees.

"Don't fucking touch her!" exclaimed Simon, still slightly winded from being socked.

"Cap'n, does your entire crew have a death wish?"

"Obviously, or they wouldn't work for me," Mal growled before throwing out his leg and tripping both Rex and Nora and tucking his legs through his arms so that they were still tied, but now infront of them. Quickly he grabbed a knife of the kitchen table and cut his ropes before tossing it to Jayne. He then grabbed Rex's gun.

Before he could do anything however Nora had a gun pressed to the back of his neck, "Cute trick," she sneered. And even though Mal couldn't see her, he just knew she was smirking again. "Drop the gun, Captain."

And as he droped the SKS assult rifle it was if the whole world were moving in slow motion. In the mere moments in which the gun tumbled to the ground, he looked up and his eyes met River's for a split secound. Without thinking, and without remembering that there was a pistol pointing to the back of his skull, he kicked the rifle directly at River seconds before it hit the ground. River caught it with persision and fired so quickly Nora didn't have time to shoot Mal before she and Rex both hit the ground.

This all took place in about ten seconds.

Naturally, just after all of this happened, River collapsed into a heap on the floor. Simon rushed to her side with Kaylee and Zoe right behind. Mal pistol whipped Rex one more time before running over as well. Jayne stood dumbstruck a few feet away.

This _also_ took place in about ten seconds.

Just as the thought that things were moving way too fast for his liking ran through Jayne's head Simon ran past with River in his arms as if she were a very small child and the rest of the crew followed them to the infirmery. He stood there for a minute staring at the growing spot of blood on the floor before Kaylee ran back into the room, "Are you comin'?"

"Yeah...sure," he responding before going to the med bay.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: This is Joss's sandbox, I'm just playing.

Honor Among Theives  
Chapter Four: The Wooden Horse Part 2

_River's Voice:_

_We sucked the world's life away and moved to a different galaxy. The Alliance began to rule soon after, they were medlesome, people don't like to be meddled with. There was a war, the meddlers won. They kept meddling. They meddled with me and Ge Ge and we lost something. When people are meddled with they loose something. Now we live on a ship, hiding from meddlers._

* * *

Simon lay River gently on the bed in the medbay, surveying her injuries. When he reached the blood running down her legs and lifted her dress up it felt very much like all of the air had been sucked out of the room. Simon immediantly changed from brother to doctor, showing absolutely no emotion as he stiched up her various injuries, including the ones...down there. When he was done he shot her up with some anti-biotics and walked out of the room to the room he shared with Kaylee, locking the door behind him.

Almost immeadiantly after that Mal grabbed the now wounded and died up Rex and threw him out the air lock. He threw Nora in a storage closet and made it clear that the only reason he didn't eject her too was she hadn't been directly envolved in River's rape and that they were kicking her off at their next stop, no matter where that was.

* * *

_Take My Love, Take My Land  
Take Me Where I Cannot Stand  
I Don't Care, I'm Still Free  
You Can't Take The Sky From Me_

_Take Me Out To The Black  
Tell Them I Ain't Comin' Back  
Burn The Land And Boil The Sea  
You Can't Take The Sky From Me_

_There's No Place I Can Be  
Since I Found Serenity  
But You Can't Take The Sky From Me_

* * *

Kaylee couldn't stop breaking into hysterical tears and Simon hadn't spoken or opened the door in three hours. River had been woken up and was now sitting in the cockpit, looking out into the abyss. It was "very dark," she whispered.

"Yeah, deep space usually is," rang Jayne's voice from behind her. She turned to him, head cocked looking at him quizically, "Figured you'd be up here," he said, answering her unasked question.

"Good deduction skills," she replied without meeting his eyes before turning back the the window.

"How you feelin'?"

"The siduation makes that question silly, don't you think?"

"I suppose it does."

They sat in silence for a minute before she turned to him, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not rightly sure, guess I was woried about you."

"But you don't like me."

"I know."

* * *

"Simon?" called Kaylee from the other side of the door, "C'mon Bao Bei, let me in." There was no answer, "Gorramit Simon, It's my room too!"

The door opened just a crack, Kaylee walked in to find Simon sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. "Are you okay? I-I mean, considering y'know--"

"Besides that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the show?"

"Huh?"

"Nevermind," he replied quietly, almost to himself.

"Simon--"

"What Kaylee? What? You gonna tell that this all going to be okay? That it'll all workout? I can't handle much anything right now, and I _really_ can't handle you bullshitting me! Not you!" he exclaimed looking absolutly beaten in every way. Kaylee looked at him, absolutly silent and looking a little miffed. "What?"

"I was just going ask you if you wanted a drink, because I know I could sure use one." A small smile playing on his face, Simon stood up, kissed her on the head, and wrapped his arms around her, rocking back and forth.

"I love you," he whispered.

"Well I know that," she replied with a chuckle, "Any fool could tell."

* * *

"I'm thinkin maybe you should go down to your brother," said Jayne after another moment of silence.

"He and Kaylee are having a moment."

"Oh."

"Yes. I suppose I _should_ be the focus, but I'd rather just sit here in silence."

"You know, you're talkin more normal than you have in awhile."

"Yes, the irony is almost startling," she said, a sad sarcastic smile appearing on her face.

"What now?"

"...It's funny," she replied, searching for a way Jayne would understand, "It would make more sense if I was babbling."

"Suppose that's true," he said before looking off as in deep thought, "But I reckon sometimes we got the most clarity when we're all fucked up."

"...Jayne?"

"Yes?"

"You have much more intelligence than the majority of this ship acredits to you."

"Well thank you. I think." They had been sitting in that cockpit for about an hour and they still hadn't made eye contact but, somehow, they both felt closer in that moment.

"I still think you're a feng le saobi who's gonna get us all killed," he said, meeting her eyes for the first time.

She smiled, which was the last thing he expected, "I still think you are a Qingwa cao de liumang," she whispered, looking him right square in the eye, "But; we're family."

He began to laugh and soon River joined in, "Yeah," he said, "I suppose we are."

* * *

Inara gently knocked on Mal's door he opened it and looked at her quizically, "Well, come on in I guess."

"Thank you," Inara replied quietly, "I just, felt uncomfortable being alone."

"I think that applies to pretty much everyone on the boat tonight." Turning away from her, lay down on the bed, head resting on his hands. Gingerly, she walked over and lay down next to him, nothing touching but their hands.

She turned her head and looked at him, "You do realize that what happened today isn't your fault, right?"

Mal sighed before turning towards her, "Of course it's my fault: it's my job to take care of my crew. I let those people on my ship."

"And Simon offered them the ride, and Kaylee aproved of them, and we all ate dinner with them, and River ran away, and we all left them alone on our home," she replied, "No one has completely perfect judgement one hundered percent of the time, Mal. But what it comes down to is that the real fault lies with Rex and Nora."

"...It's my _job_--"

"And who's supposed to take care of you?" she asked, almost smiling, but not quite. There was an uncomfortable moment while she waited for an answer, when she realized she wasn't going to get one she sat up, gently kissed his forehead, and left the room.

* * *

Chineese Translations:

feng le saobi: crazy bitch

Qingwa cao de liumang: frog humping son of a bitch


End file.
